ARLINGTON, Texas — Anthony Volpe expected a lot of jokes after the game, not from himself but from his buddies back home in New Jersey, about his first matchup against good friend and former Delbarton teammate Jack Leiter.
Volpe won the first round.
The Yankees shortstop hit a single off Leiter's first pitch in Monday night's game against the Rangers at Globe Life Field, then tried to hit deep in his next at-bat, but the ball landed in his glove on the warning track and led to an 8-4 victory.
“It was a special game,” said Volpe, who called a night when the right-hander held the Yankees to just two runs through the fifth inning before giving up three more in the sixth “stunning.”
Volpe appeared to share a laugh with Leiter after hitting a fly ball down the warning track in the fifth inning, but said the two did not want to “see eye to eye.”
But playing against Leiter for the first time in the major leagues, five years after graduating from Delbarton High School and long after they met as kids on an Upper East Side playground, was a full-circle moment for both men.
The only times they've played against each other have been during live batting practice sessions this past offseason and during the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown.
This time it was the major leagues.
“It means a lot,” said Volpe, who was 1-for-4 at bat. “I know how hard he's worked. [on] Although we have all taken slightly different paths, it is very special to know that we can always come together and rely on each other no matter what challenges we face.”
Mr. Leiter's father, former Yankee Al Leiter, was also in attendance, and Mr. Volpe said there would have been a much larger group from his hometown if the real world hadn't been there.
“Many people were trying, but the work [Tuesday]”We're all friends,” he said. “If there was an overnight flight or something, we'd all be here.”
